Lieutenant-Colonel David Reid
REID, David Elder, Lieutenant-Colonel DSO VD MAusIMM (1864-1930)
REID, DAVID ELDER, metallurgist, was born in Glasgow on 4 November 1864. He was educated at a local high school and attended Glasgow University, studying science, particularly chemistry. In Glasgow he worked for the Tharsis Sulphur and Copper Co., being their principal assayer and chemist. He was also engaged in the treatment of refractory ores with the Cassel Gold Extraction Co. (Glasgow). In 1885 Reid migrated to Queensland, being appointed Manager of a small Scottish-owned mine at Kilkivan in the Gympie district. When this mine closed he acquired an assay business in Gympie where he practised for a number of years, also undertaking experimental gold recovery work for several mines; he is credited with the introduction of the cyanide process of gold recovery to Gympie. Reid was a director of many Gympie gold mining companies, and in the late 1890s was Manager of the then major producer, No. 2 Great Eastern Mining Co. At this mine he established a cyanide plant which treated about 1000 tonnes per month. He also personally owned a customs cyanide plant of some 500 tonnes per month capacity.
No. 2 Great Eastern had been the most easterly operating mine on the Gympie field and a shaft had been sunk to 204 m on its boundary in what was known as the Eastern Monkland ground, but without success. A Scottish-born entrepreneur living in Gympie, Matthew Laird, promoted the potential of the Eastern Monkland leases, and when the Scottish Gympie Gold Mines Co. Ltd was floated in 1895 in Scotland with Reid as a local director, Laird was made a director and Secretary. After great personal effort and faith by Laird, the original shaft was deepened to 427 m, where rich gold was found in 1897, heralding the prosperity of Gympie's greatest mine. In 1898 Laird became General Manager and late in that year the first dividend was paid. In 1903, after distinguished service in the Anglo-Boer War Reid succeeded Laird as General Manager and retained the position until the mine closed in 1928. Under Reid's guidance the mine expanded, levels being operated down to 762 m with workings exceeding a total length of 48 km. To the end of September 1917 (by which time the mine had passed its heyday) the production of gold from a total of 1 496 026 tonnes of ore crushed was some 17.7 tonnes (568,497 fine ounces). Laird and Reid introduced modern' mining practices to Gympie, including large steam winders and air compressors; rock-drills replaced hand-drills underground and in some stopes, square sets were used to support the very large openings. David Reid, as a metallurgist, was particularly proud of the 150 head of stamps in the mill and the very large cyanidation plant treating the tailings from the batteries. The Scottish Gympie mine at its peak employed 330 men underground, by far the largest number on the field.
David Reid was a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and apart from his professional attainments was a man of many parts, being particularly attracted to military service. In Scotland he had joined the Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers and in Queensland he joined the Mounted Infantry, rising to the rank of Captain. He fought with distinction in South Africa, being awarded the DSO and Long Service Medal. He returned as Major Reid and retired from the army reserve in 1920 as Lieutenant-Colonel. He was an alderman for several years on the Gympie City Council and became Mayor in 1903. On two occasions he stood for the Queensland parliament, being narrowly defeated in each election. Reid was chairman or director of several Gympie and Brisbane companies, a clubman, a crack rifle shot, and a popular citizen.
Reid married and had one daughter; he died on 25 October 1930, and is remembered as a metallurgist who did much to further the Gympie field and its most famous mine, Scottish Gympie.
References:
Eminent Queensland Engineers Vol 1 is available here.
Alcazar Press, 'Queensland 19001 (Brlsb, 1900), pp. 129-30, 157;
Gymple Times, 28 October 1930;
R. H. Donald (ed). 'A Souvenier of Gympie1s Centenary' (Gympie, 1967);
H. Holthouse, 'Gymple Gold' (5yd, 1973).
